The Choice
by MissSalvaforbeson
Summary: All Caroline ever wanted was to be chosen- to be someone's first and last choice. Will her wish ever come true? A.U. after 5x12. daroline, stelena. minor statherine.


**A.N. **

**Okay, basically I have a Google alert on Damon and Caroline. Well, actually anything Caroline related to be honest, except for Tyler of course. (I'd rather dive in a pool of boiling hot lava with spiders in it than go down **_**that**_** road… no offense to all you Forwood fans out there. It's just my choice. I don't think Tyler in a bad guy or anything, it's just I don't like him. I do understand his point of view, but I don't like the way he goes about proving it. As for Forwood as a couple… just **_**ugh**_**. No. They were better as friends. He was a better friend to her than boyfriend in my opinion…) anyways, I came across an article saying what if Damon goes after Caroline now that Delena broke up (well, Katherine in Elena's body, really, but that's **_**so**_** not the point here) and let's just say an idea sprung up from there. I admit I'm a die-hard Klaroliner but due to my heartbreak over them not happening anytime soon, **_**if ever**_** (sorry. That's just the pessimist in me talking) I decided to focus on other couples, especially those who are in the same TV show for that matter, for now. And since Daroline was my first OTP in the TVD sphere other than Stelena before Klaus came along with his accent and voice and those dimples**

**and all that badass-ery **_***drool*,**_** its only obvious to focus on them now. **

**p.s. this is after Damon and Enzo killed Aaron (why did they have to kill him though? I kinda liked him. He was like a male pre-vampire Elena) and everything after that didn't happen. Including that Caroline/shredder/Klaus's painting thing. **_***sniff**sniff***_** anything after that is A.U. but still sticking to the storyline of the show, mainly the whole Katherine/Elena thing. **

**On with the story now.**

* * *

_Normal life._

_Definitely not something Caroline Forbes had led, not in a long time now. Sure, she was the cheerful little Miss Sunshine of the unsuspecting small town of Mystic Falls, Virginia. Daughter of the town sheriff. Head cheerleader in her high school. Her smooth porcelain-like skin, long soft blonde curls that lightly bounced with every step she took and clear blue eyes that shined with happiness and so much light every time she smiled only added to the All-American small town girl feel about her. The epitome of a normal life._

_But that was according to those who didn't know her. Because her life stopped being normal a long time ago._

_Her father left her and her mother when she wasn't even a teen. He eventually married his boyfriend Stephen. Her mother never stayed at home; the duties of being the town sheriff didn't really leave much time for mother-daughter bonding. Caroline drank a lot, partied a lot- a part and parcel of the rebellious teenage years. Her goal was to gain her mother's attention. Always had been. So when that didn't work out as planned, she focused on gaining attention, __**from anyone**__. Because under all that glitter lip-gloss and cheery attitude and bitchy person was just a girl who wanted to be loved. So, she did everything in her power to gain attention…_

_Enter Elena Gilbert._

_The perfect girl, the one everyone loved and adored and chose. And why wouldn't they? She was gorgeous, with her exotic tan, dark brown straight hair and big brown doe eyes. Smart. Sweet. Obedient daughter, upstanding citizen. The perfect girl. Who would choose Caroline Forbes when there was __**Elena**__**Gilbert**__ to consider? So instead of getting her wish of being chosen and loved granted, there she was pushed to the sidelines as Elena received all the attention and all the hype while she remained as the bossy, neurotic, control-freak best friend of the girl who got everything she wanted and was everything she was not. And no matter how much she despised Elena for all that and competed with her for everything, she couldn't bring herself to truly hate her. _

_Damon Elena and her just-so-damn-sweet always-forgiving martyr like persona._

_Damn her own inability to hold a grudge and seeing-the-good-in-everyone heart._

_Just… DAMN._

_To make matters worse Elena lost both her parents in an accident. The whole town mourned the loss of the beloved Doctor Grayson Gilbert and his wife Miranda and sympathized with their children Elena and her brother Jeremy. Even Caroline felt sorry for her loss and loosened up her a little (come on! She was bitchy and selfish sometimes but she wasn't __**heartless**__. And besides, jealousy and rivalry put aside, she still was one of best friends). But the insecure side of her never forgot to remind her how much this lessened her chances of having her dream of being chosen from coming true…_

_And just when she thought her life would always play like a broken record and never change, she met the Salvatore brothers. _

_And that's when her life actually screwed up. Like, royally._

_Well, basically she met Stefan first (dirty-blonde hair. Haunting eyes that seemed to have seen so much and was just so impossibly green. Brooding and mysterious. In a single word- __**breathtaking**__…) but that wasn't what screwed her over. No, not in the least bit. It was after Stefan politely rejected her advances because he was already so smitten with (surprise __**surprise**__!) Elena that it happened. Because that was when she met Damon, the 'other brother'. _

_Needless to say, she was hooked from the first moment she saw him. She didn't know it then that he was Stefan's brother of course. Other than the fact that they were both strikingly handsome and were mysterious, they were completely different. Stefan's dirty-blonde hair and emerald green eyes were in stark contrast to Damon's jet black hair and electric blue eyes. Even their mysteriousness was different. Sure, it as a part if their personality but Damon had a more dangerous edge. (Caroline first took it as just his bad boy image but it was only an hour or so later that she realized how wrong she was. And by that time, it was too late…)_

_Damon was there and he was paying her attention; and she foolishly believed and trusted him. They ended up in her bed that night. Inviting a stranger into her house and having sex with him- she knew it was all wrong. She knew it and she had never done it but she couldn't not do it, not this time. Maybe she was desperate for someone, __**anyone**__ or maybe because he was just so irresistible… (It was a lot later that she realized that she had been compelled. At least about the in-her-house part.)_

_It was in the middle of the… __**act**__ that she realized what a big mistake she had made. God, __**why**__ did she have to invite him in? Why did she kiss him, flirt with him,__** talk**__ to him? Why on earth did she have to go to the Mystic Grill and get so drunk in the first place? Why, why, __**WHY**__ was she so stupid to believe Damon when he said those sweet things and charm his way into her heart with just a smirk here and a word there? _

_And where did it all leave her? Underneath the man himself as she writhed in both pain and pleasure as he thrust himself into her, her screaming going from that of pleasure to pain and then to clear, daunting fear._

_After all, it wasn't everyday that one sees veins pop out around a man's eyes and fangs extending from his teeth and looking so sharp and deadly… not. Not an everyday thing, not by a loooonnggg shot._

_If she thought her life was fucked up before, she couldn't even begin to explain what it was after she met Damon Salvatore._

_What followed next was a nightmare, if she remembered any of it of course. Basically she became Damon's own personal sex slave, his own walking talking blood bag (without all the plastic). He fed on her when he wanted to, fucked her when he wanted to, used her for his own selfish gains- and then compelled her into secrecy; a wonderful arrangement if one asked Damon, a hellish nightmare if one asked a Caroline. And it was not the vampire Damon that scared her more, it was the honest almost-bordering-on-sweet part of him that peeked out once in a while they laid their on her bed…_

_**Damon flipped her on her back, and positioned himself hovering over her, his one hand wrapped around her waist casually and the other stroking her cheek with his knuckles. Caroline giggled her dimples in full display and looked into his eyes as Damon kneels down to kiss her on the nose.**_

_**Caroline breaks the comfortable silence (because silence had never really been her forte) by saying, her soothing voice almost whisper, " you can be very sweet when you want to be..."**_

_**Damon hums lightly stroking her cheek absently, "yes, I can be very sweet."**_

"_**Are you going to kill me?" The words are blunt, the soft whisper doesn't waver, even though the sadness and insecurity in it is hard to ignore even for an untrained ear.**_

_**But the Damon without-his-humanity doesn't care. He doesn't even falter when he says the next words, his fingers leisurely playing with her blonde curls, "mm-hmm. But not yet."**_

_**The words don't surprise Caroline. She knew it already and hard as it was, she had accepted it too. The hurt that she feels at his words doesn't surprise her either. Pain and Damon were synonymous when it came to her…**_

_The sweet Damon scared her more than the dark sadistic one. Because the sweet one made her__** feel**__… made her wish things that weren't possible. Not for her, especially not with Damon. _

_After she escaped from his clutches she began a normal life. She fell for Matt Donovan, the sweet boy-next-door blue-eyed human. Her childhood friend. He had dated Elena before her but she didn't care about that anymore. She didn't remember much of anything of her time with Damon, thanks to him compelling her to forget everything, but there still was a voice at the back of her mind that cautioned her against him, that reminded her that she should stay away from him…. __**That she should be scared**__…_

_An absentee father, an ignorant mother, an abusive ex-boyfriend that was also a freaking vampire- yeah, her life was a real gem! But it didn't end there. Nope. Not at all._

_Guess what happened? She died and __**became**__ a vampire! Like, dating a vampire wasn't enough. She had to become one. __**Just perfect**__._

_And she didn't even have a choice in the matter. No, she didn't get the chance to. Instead, Katherine did it for her._

_The rest as they say was history. She became a vampire. She became friends with a werewolf. She witnessed Elena being stuck between two brothers in a tragic love triangle. Elena's Doppelganger status led to the whole sun and moon curse and Klaus and the Originals and hybrids. Elijah came and helped fake Elena's death as Klaus prep eared for the breaking of his curse. In fact, Caroline was to be sacrificed in that very ritual along with Tyler but was saved by Damon. Instead, Klaus turned Elena's Aunt Jenna_ _and killed her in front of her. Stefan sacrificed his own freedom to tag along with Klaus on his trip down Boulevard Evil to save Damon from a wolf bite._

_Stefan turned into a Ripper again; became obsessed with Mission Revenge Against Klaus; almost lost Elena; __**did**__ lose Elena after he got her back; suffered through seeing his love falling for his brother; got dumped in a safe for months dying over and over again with nothing but the hope that one day the two people he loved most would come save him; got saved by the vengeful 2000 year old witch Qetsiyah instead; lost his memories; got them back; suffered through PTSD and survived._

_Elena fake-died in Klaus's ritual; lost Stefan to Klaus; got closer to Damon; searched relentlessly for Stefan and got him back only to lose him again due to Klaus compelling him to turn is emotions off; fell for Damon as well; chose Stefan; died and turned into a vampire and realized she was sired to Damon; turned her humanity off due to pain at losing the last of her family; wreaked havoc; almost killed Caroline; turned her humanity on later and chose Damon after realizing that the sire bond was broken and she was still in love with Damon; went through the honeymoon phase with him and later went through a guilt trip when she found Stefan had been suffering in quarry all the while she was playing house with his brother._

_Damon almost lost his life due to a wolf-bite that he received in order to save Caroline; lost his brother; suffered through guilt; found his brother; fell for his girl; got the girl; lost his brother and got him back again only to have his memory wiped off; suffering through guilt when it did come back; got kidnapped and tortured by the Augustine doctor._

_Caroline got tortured three times; got kidnapped twice; almost got killed more times than she count; got bit twice by both Tyler and Klaus; got saved each time by Klaus; her relationship with her mother improved but her Dad died; fell in love with Tyler and broke up with him countless times; developed feelings for Klaus which she continuously denied and finally had sex with him in the forest._

_Alaric died._

_Aunt Jenna died._

_Bill Forbes died._

_Carol Lockwood died._

_Jeremy died and then came back._

_Bonnie died, came back as a ghost and returned to life only to lose her witchy powers._

_Yes, Caroline Forbes's life was far from normal. And as much as complained about it before, she was used to it now. She had gotten used to it and she was ok with it. Because no matter what, she was she was __**alive**__ (kinda) and well and happy, and all her friends were with her._

_So what if her life wasn't normal? She had a life and that's all that mattered now…._

* * *

Hearing the ringtone of her phone she picked it up and brought it to her ear. "Hey, Stefan. What happened?"

"It's Damon" came the reply.

Caroline groaned. "What is it this time?"

Stefan sighed and Caroline could almost feel the tension rolling off of him, "he has gone off the deep end, Care…"

"Wait, what exactly do you mean by 'deep end'"?

"He and Enzo are going on a killing spree, more specifically the Whitmore family. And possibly anyone involved with the Augustine society. Caroline… they killed Aaron."

Caroline growled lightly and said, picking up her car keys and purse as she headed for the door,"I'm on my way."

* * *

_No, Caroline Forbes's life wasn't remotely normal. And seeing as how Damon Salvatore was a part of her life, normalcy was the last thing she'll ever get to experience._

* * *

The door opened with a loud booming sound; it was a surprise it didn't break into splinters. But the loud and rather rude intrusion didn't seem to have the required impact on the occupant of the room who sat on the armchair, staring into the fireplace quietly nursing the glass of bourbon in his hand before taking a sip.

"There's a thing called knocking. You should try it sometime", he quipped, without even looking up from his glass. He really didn't need to; he knew who it was. And even if he didn't have his superhuman vampire capabilities like heightened smell and hearing, the highly dramatic entry was a dead giveaway.

It was just so _**Caroline**_.

"There's a thing called _caring_. You should try it sometime", Caroline shot back, her hands on her hips as she glared at Damon.

"Been there. Done that. Got royally screwed in the process. Go buy a ticket", he replied, downing the rest of his Bourbon.

A spark of sympathy flashed in her eyes for the cocky vampire but went away just as soon as it had appeared. "I'm sorry Damon-"

"Get in line, Barbie."

"-but you can't let go your life because of that and wreak havoc in others."

Damon appeared in front of her in a flash, his tall form hovering domineeringly over her, their bodies separated from each other by only a few inches. He leaned his face closer to her until their noses were almost touching, his ice blue eyes locked with her baby blue ones. He whispered his voice cold and clinical yet somehow seductive, "yeah? _Watch._ _Me_."

He moved away from her and turned away as abruptly as he had come closer. Caroline let the breath out that she didn't even know she had been holding. She didn't let him unnerve her and continued on her point. She sighed and said, "Damon, _why_ are you doing this? Why are you constantly trying to screw yourself up? If you do this Elena would never-"

Damon turned around and stormed towards her, pushing her against the wall his one hand pressing on her neck and the other holding her in place. Caroline, however, did not fight back- she only stared at him. She had noticed how he had flinched on hearing Elena's name and his backlash towards was only because of his own hurt. She could clearly see the hurt in his eyes, the pain. Whatever he was doing was because of their break-up.

But that didn't mean that it made anything he did _**right**_.

Caroline looked at him in surprise when he let go of her, stepping away from her to give her space. "That doesn't matter, Caroline! She was very clear when she broke up with me. She doesn't want anything to do with me! I'M BAD NEWS! I'm the bad guy, and nothing I do would ever change that. And I don't even think I want to_. I'm better like this!_ This is who I am."

"No, Damon, this is _not_ who you are! You are what you make yourself to be- what emotions you act on, what actions you take. These are what matters. Not revenge and bloodshed!"

"Yeah?" he challenged. "And who made you the Ambassador of Morality, Blondie?"

Caroline paused, her eyes scanning him cautiously. She didn't like the way he said it. Absolutely not. She asked, fidgeting on her sot a little, "wh-what do you mean?"

Damon smirked in reply which only caused Caroline's nervousness to grow, "I know about your little romp in the forest, Barbie."

"WHAT?"

"Jeez! Do you havta screech like that? As for your dirty little secret, yeah, I know of you shagging Klaus in the forest."

"Wha-? How did you-?"

"Puh-_lease_. What kind of a half-assed vampire do you think I am? I could smell his hybrid stench all over you. Speaking of that, Klaus? Really? You really know how to choose them, Blondie."

"Yeah, I know", she said, smiling sarcastically at him. "I chose _you_."

"Touché", he replied, his smirk in place which Caroline wanted to smack off his face. She tried to calm herself by taking a deep a deep breath and then said, "first of all, who I sleep with is none of your concern-"

Damon being Damon interrupted her with a snarky comment, "similarly, who I kill is none of your concern. So scram."

Caroline ignored him and continued on her point regardless of his protests or smart-ass comments, "second of all, we're here to talk about you and your killing problem-"

"Correction, Blondie", he interrupted again, much to the irritation of Caroline (judging by her glare) and the amusement of Damon (judging by his smirk), "_you_ are here to talk about me and my 'killing problem'. _I_ am here because this is my house. In other words, _**scram**_!"

Caroline rolled her eyes at him and said, walking closer to him until she was almost invading his personal space, "which brings us to point number three. You cannot go about killing people and exacting revenge because you are pissed- I get it, okay? You are hurt, you are angry. And I also get that you are back lashing because of that pain and you can't deny it, Damon. It is clear as day! Everyone knows it. I know it. _You _know it. And by denying it you're only making it worse for yourself in the long run. Because no matter how angry you are now, or how much you think that this revenge thing that you have going on is what you really want, what you really are- it's only going to make it all worse later. It's going to make your guilt worse."

"And what if I say I don't feel any guilt? That I don't feel _anything_?" Damon asked, all traces of humor gone from his eyes and only having a coolness to it that made a shiver run down her spine. Her words had opened old wounds; had reminded him of everything he was trying to forget, pushing everything to the back of his mind because even thinking about them hurt.

Being good hurt.

Feelings _**hurt**_.

And he was tired of all of it. He was done feeling. And he would not let anything come between him and his decision.

Not even, _**especially not**_, Caroline freaking Forbes.

Caroline smiled wryly at him and said, her voice low and almost sounding sympathetic, "then I guess you don't really know yourself as well as you claim to. Because everyone feels. Even the heartless Damon Salvatore."

Caroline turned around and left, not sparing him a second glance. _What was the point_, she thought. _He wouldn't understand. He just doesn't care. And even if he did, the last person he would listen to is you._

She didn't know how wrong she was. Because as the door closed behind her with a gentle thud, Damon was still staring at the spot where she had been standing, his eyes unseeing, his mind replaying everything she had just said…

**A.N.**

**So... There you go. The first chapter to my first ever Daroline fic. God, I am so excited! Eep! I know, I know I messed up the end part but, in my defense, I am a total dud when it comes to the whole ending-with-a-thought-provoking-speech thing. Well, anyway, what did you think? Good? Bad? Should I continue with it? Or what you really wanna say is "what were you thinking? Just chuck it in the dustbin! What are you- **_**daft**_**?" okay, hehe, maybe not **_**that**_** extreme but, well, you get the point. **

**Review please! Tell me what you thought. Pretty please?**

**P.S. This story is going to be closely related to what's happening in TVD, at least the whole Katherine-in-Elena's-body plot bunny. I will just weave my story around that. But a little newsflash: I'm not killing off Katherine. Hell no. Come on! She may be a manipulative, lying, conniving, murderous bitch, but she still is awesome. And truth be told, The Vampire Diaries would be an hour-long bore fest if it wasn't for our Kit-Kat. Okay, not entirely a bore fest, seeing as how we'll still get Damon and Stefan Salvatore to ogle** **at. But let's face it. If Katherine didn't come along and ultimately ruin their 'poorly executed awesome' ideas and create havoc in the lives of our favorite gang, all TVD will have is Elena jumping from one brother to the other. Fun for her, **_**not so**_** for us.**

**So… Katherine stays. Case closed. Why? Because she's AWESOME.**

**P.P.S. Those of you klaroline fans reading this, I would like to ask you to read my klaroline fic "**_Did she just call me MOM?_**" I had previously posted it under the pen name **_KlarolineDreamGirl_** but i lost the password of it. Yeah, I know. It sucks. I will post it under this account later to make it easier and to keep it in one place. Those of you, who haven't read it before, please do. And those who have already, thanks for reading it and I am really sorry for not continuing with it already. I would. Soon. And this time, I mean it. **

**P.P.P.S. you can follow me on twitter **_ BSilvereyes_**. **

**UNTIL NEXT TIME EVERYONE. THANKS FOR READING. **


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